Fav/Least-Fav Changes in scores on cast albums

What are your favorite or least favorite changes in a cast album from its shell? Two albums that come to mind for me are:

1.) Wicked: The taking out of the its meeeee in Defying Gravity,

2.) I really hate how many albums omit/shorten overtures, entr’actes, curtain calls, and exit music.


2.5.) THE FACT THAT THEY MADE THE WIZ’S INCREDIBLE OVERTURE INTO A SMALL PROLOGUE It’s still good but the full overture in licensed productions and in the Broadway productions is by far superior

3.) Wonderland: I prefer the later version of the overture, changing the opening number from Worst Day of My Life to Home as well as taking out the harmonies in the end of Through the Looking Glass. Really, I prefer the later version of the show on Broadway (though I prefer either version of Worst Day of My Life (fast rock as well as the slow campy one). More from that show, but I wanna hear yours!

Updated On: 1/23/21 at 03:18 PM

I dislike how most cast albums omit entr'actes and exit music (thank God for the West End Company). Show the darn musicians some love! Also of recent memory:

Hamilton: There is a beautiful string underscore right before "It's Quiet Uptown" that harkens back to "Dear Theodosia" which the OBCR leaves out.

Kinky Boots: The Angels' "Lola... Lola... Lola" intro before "Land of Lola" is missing on the B'way cast album, and that was just powerful to hear live.

Jagged Little Pill: "Predator" resolves to its home key on the OBCR (A minor)- which isn't the case live. "Thank U" is also performed in full (as it was at American Rep), and I like this better than the truncated B'way version.

Moulin Rouge!: The longer Whitney outro at the end is notably missing from the OBCR's "Shut Up and Raise Your Glass": "Somebody who, somebody who... somebody who loves me..."

I will never understand why they jumped the gun and made a cast recording of the Chicago version of Spongebob Squarepants. Not only is the Broadway version far stronger, it's also the one that's going to be licensed for amateur and high school performance. Why wouldn't you make that version the one that's readily accessible?

Alex Kulak2 said: "I will never understand why they jumped the gun and made a cast recording of the Chicago version ofSpongebob Squarepants. Not only is the Broadway version far stronger, it's also the one that's going to be licensed for amateur and high school performance. Why wouldn't you make that version the one that's readily accessible?"

I absolutely agree that this was a mistake. Not only does it not truly reflect the score, which was improved on Broadway, it also means that Wesley Taylor, Brian Ray Norris, and Jailen Josey are completely absent, even though they were far better than the actors that they replaced.

In general, I also don’t like when shoes cut down dance breaks. I like hearing the instrumentals, and I think the average person listening to these albums does as well.

Favorite:

1. I love the lyric change for the movie adaptation of The Last Five Years where Jamie talks about Cathy being disappointed about "going again to Ohio" instead of "touring again for the summer." We've already seen how much Cathy hates the summer theatre in Ohio, and we know she'll be stuck there up until at least "See, I'm Smiling" - so it gives Cathy way more of a reason to be upset and vindicates her throughout this argument/song.

2. The playoff of "Alyssa Greene" from The Prom is cut from the album, and it leaves you in the mood of the scene much more effectively than the sorta-upbeat playoff. They even kept the album end for the movie adaptation.

3. The transition between "Ready, Set - Reprise" and "No Reason" on the Beetlejuice cast album is one of my favorite parts of the album! I understand why it's not in the musical, since there's a book scene in between, but it's so cool to listen to.

4. I do agree with the person who mentioned the SpongeBob album, but I do miss some of the lyrics from Chicago's "Chop to the Top" and I'm glad they were preserved somewhere. (Also, as someone who's a big fan of the band Lady A, Lilli and Ethan are really pulling double duty in that song by doing impressions of both the characters they're playing and also the lead singers of the band.)

5. On the Anastasia album, they turned "Still" into a standalone song without the short "A Rumor in St. Petersburg" reprise immediately before it, and I think the song is better for it - it becomes less about the chase that's about to ensue and more the inner struggles of Gleb's character.

6. I like the end of "You Will Still Be Mine" from Waitress better on the album than in the show proper. It gives the performer a button for the song and allows the audience to sit in the dramatic moment of the song. Also, it gave Nick Cordero a few more lines to sing on an album that did not feature him nearly enough, and for that I will forever be grateful.

7. The overture on the newest My Fair Lady cast album resolves into the final chord of "I Could Have Danced All Night," while the show itself transitioned immediately into the trumpets of the opening. I very much prefer the album's way of doing things, and I would love to know if this difference is a common thing within productions.

Now least-favorite:

1. I agree with the person who mentioned the string section leading into "It's Quiet Uptown" in Hamilton, and I also miss the "My Shot" playoff into "The Story of Tonight." It's so much fun, and otherwise, the next song seems to come out of nowhere.

2. There are maybe four measures missing from the lead-in to the "Seize the Day" dance break on the Newsies album, and it drives me a little bit up the wall every time I listen to it. Thank goodness for the proshot!

3. In the Broadway and licensed production of Matilda, there's a children's chorus that sings underneath the final chorus of "The Smell of Rebellion," and I really miss that when listening to the cast album.

4. I could speak at length about how weirdly inappropriate the fade-out of the Pippin finale into Theo's "Corner of the Sky" reprise is on the 2013 album. There are so many better ways to do that part of the song, and it cuts out Pippin and Catherine's a cappella singing in between, which is one of the best parts of the show.

5. I'm surprised nobody has mentioned the Spring Awakening cast album. Was it recorded and/or released before the show was frozen? I remember reading that the show changed some lyrics and added some harmonies, especially in "The Song of Purple Summer," right before previews ended, and I much prefer those versions of the songs.

6. Again, I agree with the person who mentioned the Chicago recording for SpongeBob, although I do think the three actors who left the production (especially Emmy Raver-Lampman) were still incredible performers and brought their own energy to their roles. The thing I miss the most is the end of "Bikini Bottom Day," which was expanded into an incredible finale to the song and provides the audience so much wonderful energy - and it has one of my favorite lines in the show, which is, "I will always vow and pledge allegiance to/This town that I hold dear/For all are welcome here."

The cast recording of Spring Awakening was made between Off-Broadway and Broadway (I believe), so none of the Broadway lyric changes (so many), orchestrations (Broadway added piano/harmonium, violin, and viola, all of which appear on the recording but not in their finalized version), or the game-changing new vocal arrangements were preserved. The cutoffs and vocal textures were all fixed by the time it hit Broadway, but you’ll hear it’s a bit of a mess on record. What we have is not representative of how the frozen show sounds. It’s absolutely criminal we don’t have a proper recording of “The Song of Purple Summer.”

Someone mentioned Kinky Boots. I wish we had the runway presentation in between the intro and first verse of “Raise You Up.” You can hear it on the London recording.

Updated On: 1/23/21 at 12:51 PM

Updated On: 1/24/21 at 06:09 PM

"Funny Girl," "The Music That Makes Me Dance"

In the theater, following the conclusion of the verse with "If I've been burned, I haven't learned," a voice was heard over the loudspeaker saying, "Ladies and gentlemen, Florenz Ziegfeld presents the one and only--Fanny Brice!"

Then Fanny, now performing for an audience, resumes with "I know he's around when the sky and the ground start in ringing...."

Updated On: 1/25/21 at 01:07 AM

Going off of Spring Awakening, I actually quite love Moritz’s “And Then There Were None” section where he went:

“They freak or won’t, you toe the line

You tell your soul just kill some time

Will it quit, it will until they don’t”

I actually really prefer it instead of heading straight into “They’re not my home...” like they did on Broadway. The musical moment just feels a lot more complete here. Plus the rest of the song is so fast and frantic, it’s nice to have a slower, more loaded section where Moritz doesn’t avoid talking about the issue and actually does take a moment to develop his thoughts. It’s a small detail, but I feel like it really does connect him closer to the Moritz we see in “Don’t Do Sadness” by (spoilers?) directly establishing the inevitability he feels comes with being suicidal, and the reason he rejects Ilse’s advances.

Updated On: 1/25/21 at 07:18 AM

ScottyDoesn'tKnow2 said: "The fact that the original production couldn't fund a true recording of the Dreamgirls score. The original Broadway cast recording is beyond truncated with important cut songs, and makes you think the show was a regular book musical as opposed one that was almost fully musical with music nearly happening throughout. They also cut "Heavy" and took out the bridge to "And I Am Telling You"."

I also don’t like how in the original (not the OBC Special edition) album, they don’t include the Dreamgirls reprise finale, thus “Hard to Say Goodbye” being the final song. When I listened to the original album initially, I thought that was the finale. While I like “Hard to Say Goodbye”, I felt underwhelmed having thought that that was the finale to the entire show, it being a fade out of the three singing, thinking that there must be more, only to find Dreamgirls Reprise, which is One of my favorite songs. Love the whole show and songs.